Commentary as a Means of Interpreting Shakespeare's Plays

• Леонтьева Тамара Ивановна

  Tamara I. Leontieva. Vladivostok State University. Vladivostok. Russia

• Nikolai D. Marus

  Nikolai D. Marus. Vladivostok State University. Vladivostok. Russia

Abstract. The aim of this work is to consider commentary as a way of understanding obsolete vocabulary (archaisms), neologisms, phraseological units, unusual syntactic forms and other complexities of original texts by analysing the plays by William Shakespeare. The material of the study could contribute to the field of research in question. The paper gives examples of vo¬cabulary that may cause difficulties in interpreting the meanings when read by people in our time. The relevance of this paper is that it can be of value to those who are constantly addressng and rethinking classical literature, trying to provide deeper understanding and insight into a particular literary work. Although people may interpret the same phrase differently, there is still a need for some vocabulary and certain grammatical structures to be explained, because for one reason or another they may present difficulties not only for an amateur reader, but also for a person professionally engaged in language studies, such as a linguist or philologist. Therefore, our research proposes to look at one method of explaining such vocabulary and grammar and to understand why translators had to resort to commenting. The study is based on the commentaies for Shakespeare's plays “Hamlet” and “Macbeth”.
Keywords: commentary, archaisms, neologisms, phraseology, translation difficulties, William Shakespeare, interpretation, "Hamlet”, "Macbeth"